


5 Times Barry Caught Len Doing Good Things and 1 Time The Whole World Saw

by heartsdesire456



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon-Typical Violence, Flirting, Gen, Homophobic Language, Humor, M/M, Mostly Gen, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 23:52:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8078752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: Leonard Snart is not a good guy, damn it, and he would appreciate Barry Allen stopping insisting that he is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Again, this is more gen than slash, much like my last one.
> 
> Basically I decided I wanted to write about Len being an animal lover, and then SOMEHOW all of this happened instead.
> 
> Don't ask me, man

1.

Len loved nothing more than a good heist. The thrill of breaking into a secure location, cracking alarms, beating pressure sensors, avoiding lasers, all of it, was more fun than anything in the world. Walking out of a museum with a diamond or a bank with a bag full of cash and nobody on his tail was better than sex.

Violence, however, was not his cup of tea.

He wasn’t afraid of doing what he had to in order to get things done, but violence for the sake of hurting someone was just plain wrong. He took no pleasure in hurting people, even when he killed someone for the sake of a job. It wasn't about enjoying violence, it was about the job. Lately, he hadn't killed anyone out of anything but self-defense. He found himself feeling a bit better about himself because of it.

He was even less alright with violence bred from intolerance, such as the case of the attack he had walked up on when heading home via some back alleys. Len had come around the corner behind a rundown bar and, upon hearing the sounds of fighting, he had almost turned around and left. However, he had just slowed his steps when he heard a dark laugh and the word 'fag' spit out viciously. He continued cautiously on his way and found the sight before him to not be one he was really okay with.

There was a kid – and he clearly was a kid, no older than eighteen or nineteen, surely – being shoved around in the middle of a group of men in their twenties, all eight of them using the momentum to get in a few hits when he came to them to knock him back to the others. Len could hear the boy begging them to stop only for them to spew vitriolic nonsense in response.

"You shouldn't have brought your little faggot ass down here, then!"

"You fucking pansy!"

"Why, I figured you would like a bunch of men touching you all over, Fag!"

Len would normally walk away, but he had had a rough day and he really hated homophobes, so a good excuse to kick the living shit out of a few of them sounded like a great way to end his evening. "Hey!" he called as he stalked towards them. "Let the boy go."

The men all stopped and looked his way, and he could see them eyeing him in his parka with his goggles around his neck and putting two and two together about who he was. "What's it to you?” one of them asked suspiciously.

Len narrowed his eyes. "It's the twenty-first century, why don't you move on to something more acceptable than gay-bashing," he suggested. "Not exactly contemporary." The boy let out a whimper, only to get punched hard in the side for making a sound. Len flung out an arm, pointing at the one who had hit the kid. "Hey! I said leave the boy alone!”

"Oh yeah?" The same man shoved the boy, who fell to his hands and knees, hard, on the dirty asphalt. "You gonna make me, then?"

Len smirked, hands already curling into fists at his side. "Why, I thought you'd never ask." Before anybody could stop him, Len walked right into the middle of the crowd and punched that smug fucker right in his face. He then grabbed the boy and tried to pull him up to run, only to have to give up and fight back when the rest of the group jumped on him for knocking out their friend. Len had a lot of fun kicking, punching, scratching, and all around fighting dirty.

Nothing made a guy feel better than holding his own against eight men who were probably at least fifteen years younger than he was. He took several heavy blows, but he had long desensitized to just a little beating. His childhood alone had made that easier to take, nonetheless all he'd been up to since then. 

His fun was interrupted by the sound of a scream of pain, and he turned just in time to see the boy being dragged to his feet by one of the few that were still on their feet. Three of them stood while the rest lay groaning or even unconscious around Len. "Why you so fuckin' worried about some little fag?"

Len sneered. "Because I put up with you bastards my whole life. You think you're bad just because you can kick the shit out of a gay kid? We'll see how bad you are when I break your nose and then go suck your dad's dick," he snapped before jumping towards him. The kid got tossed aside again, and Len tackled the asshole in his crosshairs, rolling around punching him on the ground. "You like my queer ass on top of you, huh?" he snarled, punching the guy again. "Maybe your homophobia is misplaced desire for a big, rock hard cock," he spat, grunting when he was flipped and punched in the face. "I'm gonna fucking seduce your dad and become your stepfather, you little asshole!"

"Shit, it's the Flash!"

The one fighting Len hesitated and Len flipped them over, punching him one more solid time before being tackled off of him by one of the others. However, they were right, in the end, and Len heard the familiar tone of Barry Allen's voice shouting, "Hey, what's going on here?!"

The one with his arm around Len's neck dropped him instantly, and Len staggered to his feet just in time to see the three of the eight who were still able to run running away up the alley. Len panted some, looking around to see the kid they’d been beating up getting to his feet as well. “Shit,” Len panted, spitting blood from a cut in his mouth on the ground. He stood upright, hands on his hips as he looked around at where Flash was checking the unconscious and otherwise injured five men on the ground and laughed, still catching his breath. “Don’t you want to go catch those other three?”

“Already did,” he said, and Len looked the way he pointed and saw three guys handcuffed to a drain pipe near the street. Len grinned at the sight. “Now,” Flash said, getting to his feet. “What the hell is going on here? I’m not calling the cops until I work out if you are the one who did this or if they-“

Flash went silent when, from his left, almost in a blur like himself, the kid ran over to Len and slammed into him, arms going around his neck. Len let out an ‘oof’ at the collision, and held his arms at his side in confusion as the boy started repeating, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” over and over again into his shoulder. “I thought I was gonna die, and you saved me, thank you!” 

Len awkwardly patted the kids back. “No sweat, Kid.”

The kid finally pulled back, eyes wide as he looked up at him. “I- I don’t know how to thank you, I- shit,” he said, looking around. “You kicked all their asses.”

“What happened?” Flash asked, and the kid turned around to look at him.

Len put a hand on the kids shoulder. “Know how to thank me?” he said, nodding to Flash. “Tell the cops he saved you.” He nodded to the kid then saluted Flash mockingly. “I was never here,” he said as he turned and took off down the alley, not looking back once.

~

Len wasn’t surprised, but was a little annoyed when, the following night, he was having a drink and some fries at Saints and Sinners, alone in his booth, and a familiar figure slid into the seat across from him. “Bartholomew,” he mumbled in greeting. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?” he mocked.

Barry smirked. “Nice try, _Leonard_ ,” he retorted and Len gave him a flat look. “But I know your secret,” he said, eyes bright. “That teenager last night told me all about what I came up on.” He reached out and stole one of Len’s fries, earning a look of disbelief as he popped it in his mouth. “So yeah, I know your secret now, Snart.”

“If it’s that I have no preference in who I sleep with, that’s not really a secret, Red,” he said mockingly.

Barry shrugged. “Not that, though I didn’t know that either, but no!” He leaned forward, looking at Len like he had him all figured out. “The good I saw in you wasn’t just me seeing it. You know you’ve got good inside you, too. It takes a good heart to save a kid from a gay-bashing.”

Len raised an eyebrow. “It takes knowing what it’s like to get your ass kicked for staring at another man’s ass, not a good heart. Also, I really wanted to fight someone,” he added with a smirk. “And if a kid got saved in the process, eh.” He shrugged. “One check on the ‘nice’ list to balance out the very long ‘naughty’ list.”

Barry gave him a big, wide-eyed smile that looked so fucking naïve, Len thought, for someone he _knew_ really wasn’t that naïve. “Or, what I suspected all along is true, and you don’t actually enjoy violence-“

“I like stealing things, Scarlet, and it’s hard to rob people if they’re dead,” he said in a lower voice, giving Barry a pointed look. “Someone said that to me, once.”

Barry just smirked. “Alright. Whatever you say, Snart,” he said, sliding out of the booth again. “That kids fine, in case you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t,” Len said firmly, glaring at the annoyingly smug look on Barry’s face.

 

2.

Contrary to what his sister seemed to think, Len did actually have other things he liked to do besides plan his next heist and watch nature documentaries. He even, on occasion, liked to have fun. It wasn’t as often these days, but every once in a while, he liked to go to a bar, find someone interesting to spend the evening talking to, and, if he was lucky, go home with for a little more private fun. 

However, while Len was usually one to say ‘to each his own’, that did _not_ extend to the asshole he spotted dropping two pills into one of the drinks he was picking up from the bartender behind the woman Len was talking to. Len was listening to her talking about her job – and who knew garbage collection could be so interesting or done by such a pretty woman – when he just so happened to see the pills plopping into the drink. It caught his attention, and he looked at the man, who simply picked the drinks up and started back across the bar. Len watched him, stomach tightening as he saw the direction he was going and the lady sitting at the table he was headed for. 

“Hey, are you listening?” Len looked back to the woman telling him her story, and he nodded, smiling, only to look back over and see the guy, as he suspected, sliding one of the glasses to the woman at his table. 

“Well fuck.” Len winced when he saw the annoyed look on his companion’s face but he just gave her a small smile. “Look, Lauren, you’re beautiful and very interesting, but I think tonight’s not gonna work out.”

“What, why?!” she demanded angrily.

Len sighed as he stood up and shrugged on the leather jacket he’d worn tonight. “Because I’m probably about to get kicked out of this bar.” He stood up and stalked across the bar, speeding up some when the woman lifted the drink to her lips.

He didn’t hesitate to snatch the drink out of her hand as he stumbled to the table. “Hey!” she cried, and he held up a finger, then held the drink out to her date.

“You drink this one,” he said with a dark look in his eyes.

The guy huffed. “What is the meaning of this-“

“You. Drink. This one.” Len shoved it in front of his face. 

The woman looked at Len and at the guy. “Bob, what is he talking about?”

“I don’t know, he’s clearly insane-“

Len poured the drink in his hand into the man’s glass, then grabbed it, mixing them both together. “Now. Drink both of them,” he said coldly. “Now.”

The man refused to touch the glasses and Len grabbed his collar, snatching him to the edge of his seat. “Drink it!” he commanded, and then tried to force the drink down his fucking throat.

The woman screamed as her date started choking and spluttering, and someone grabbed Len, snatching him away from the man. “Hey! What’re you doing?!” Len turned to the bouncer and sneered.

“Doing this nice lady a favor,” he said, shoving the bouncer off to grab the second drink and ‘Bob’ by the throat, forcing the drink down his throat, even as he choked and coughed. “How do you fucking like it, Bob? Do you enjoy someone _forcing_ something you don’t want into you?”

Len was snatched away by the bouncer and the glass shattered as it hit the table and Bob stared choking and coughing as he fell back in his seat. The woman he was with grabbed his shoulders, trying to help him, and Len fought against the bouncer so he could at least _tell_ that woman what her date was up to. “Let go of me, I’m not done-“

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Len stopped struggling, surprised to hear a familiar voice. He turned and saw Barry and his foster-father walking over. 

Joe held up his badge, looking at the scene. “Hold on, I’m a cop,” he said, and Barry was looking at Len in confusion.

“Uh, hey, what going on?” he asked, looking around. He saw the man with booze down his front, swaying in his seat while he still coughed from what had gone in his lungs not his stomach, and the woman helping him sit up. “Hey, are you okay?” Barry asked the guy, and Len could see his eyes were clearly glazed over already. He grabbed the un-shattered, half-drunk glass and raised it to his eyes to look at it, only to frown. “Wait-“ He looked at Len then at the woman and ‘Bob’. “Did he drug this?!” he asked Len, holding the glass up, where the slight haze from the still-dissolving pill at the bottom was visible.

Len nodded to the guy. “I was at the bar when he dropped something into her drink, so I figured I’d see how he liked being roofied,” Len gritted out.

The bouncer let go of Len just as the woman looked at Bob in horror and scrambled away from him. “Oh my God!” Joe reached out and helped her to her feet, pulling her to his side. “Bob? How could- Oh my God!” she cried, suddenly bursting into tears. She looked at Len, tears rolling down her face. “T-Thank you, Sir. I- I- I don’t know-“

“Just arrest him,” he said to Joe tightly.

Joe looked at Len, then lowered his voice. “I’ll give you a pass this time. Get out of here before anybody else who knows you’re a wanted criminal shows up,” he said and Barry looked surprised but relieved, which amused Len to no end, though he wasn’t feeling terribly amused at the moment.

Len nodded. “Thank you,” he said simply. 

He wasted no time walking away, head down as he avoided the eyes of people watching him go. 

~

Len was actually in the middle of a small heist he and Mick were pulling off when the Flash just so happened to get him separate from the others while trying to interrupt them. “Hey, just so you know, that date rape drug dude from that club? He’s going to jail.”

Len chuckled. “Swell.”

“And he was unconscious by the time the cops got there, thanks to you,” he added and Barry smirked. “Told you you were a good person.”

“Even in prison, rapists are usually disliked, Red,” Len said bluntly. “Hardly makes me a good person.” He then used the distraction to blast Barry with his freeze gun, freezing his legs to the floor before he turned and ran for it, laughing to himself at the cursing and struggling he heard.

 

3.

Len didn’t like people very much. He never had, probably never would. He couldn’t trust them, he didn’t like the feelings they caused him, and he hated being betrayed by them. Pretty much the only human being he actually trusted and cared about without any limits was his sister. She was the only person he loved and the only person he knew loved him, and he was okay with that.

Animals, though, were definitely not people. Len loved animals. He had never had a pet, because he’d be a terrible pet-owner, but animals were honest. If they didn’t like you, they were clear about it. If they liked you, they didn’t shy away. They showed affection openly and showed hatred openly and he enjoyed the inability to deceive that animals seemed to have. A dog could never betray someone. A cat couldn’t break someone’s heart. A deer surely never lied to someone. Squirrels were sneaky bastards, but it wasn’t malicious so it didn’t count, he figured. All in all, Len liked animals far more than he did people.

If there was one thing Len hated more than most anything, was when a human turned their shitty fucking nature on an animal. 

That was why he was currently punching a man, repeatedly, on the side of the road in an abandoned warehouse district. “Fucking. Animal. Abandoning. Mother. Fucker,” he grunted with every blow, all the while careful not to jostle the little, fragile cargo he had in each of the deep pockets of his parka.

Len had been leaving one of his safe-houses after stocking it with food so they could go there for their next heist when he spotted a car pulling to a stop up the road. He stood, carefully to avoid being seen, and watched cautiously. If it was somebody who knew what he was doing, he’d have to abandon this safe-house and find another for the upcoming job. Instead, he had watched as the man got out, opened the back door, retrieved a cardboard box, and put it on the ground before getting back into his car and driving off like nothing had ever happened.

Leery of the contents of the box, Len had approached it slowly. He stopped a good six feet back, worried it might be a bomb or some other terrible device, only to hear a small whimpering noise inside. For a horrifying second, he thought it might be a baby, but when he moved closer, he found that the box contained two little puppies. He had knelt down, reaching into the box to carefully examine the shaking, shivering little things, clearly freezing in the cold, and he quickly picked them both up, holding them against his chest. He had looked up at the tail-lights of the car that was going around the corner and immediately saw red as he tucked the puppies into his pockets for warmth. 

His bike had been just outside the safe-house, so it had only taken him a few minutes to find and catch up to the guy who just dumped the poor little puppies out on the side of the road, and as soon as they’d reached an empty stretch and a stop sign, it only took seconds for Len to go to the guys window, snatch him out of the car, and begin beating the ever-loving shit out of him in his rage. 

By the time his red haze had receded, the man lay on the ground besides his still-running car, barely conscious and bloody and bruised.

~

Len had taken the puppies somewhere safe for the night, since it was too late to take them anywhere else, but he had no other way of transporting them than in his coat pockets, again, when he took them to the animal shelter in the morning. 

However, the last thing he expected, upon arriving there, was for the person at the front desk to turn around and be Barry fucking Allen. To his credit, Barry looked just as confused. His big green eyes got even wider as he looked at Len in surprise. “Uh, hey?” he asked.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Len asked in confusion.

Barry looked around. “I- I volunteer on the weekends? It’s Saturday?” he said as if he were asking Len instead of telling him. “What are _you_ doing here?” he asked skeptically.

Len reached into the pockets of his parka, and he noticed the way Barry tensed up, but he just rolled his eyes. “Relax, Red,” he said, holding up the two little puppies. “Some dick abandoned these little guys in a cardboard box last night,” he said, and Barry’s eyes widened – impossibly – even more. 

“Oh my God,” he said, reaching for the nearest puppy, tugging it into his arms. “Oh no, who would do that?” he cooed to the puppy as he snuggled it to his chest. “You’re so precious, who would hurt a baby like you?” He looked up at Len. “Were they out there all night, do you think?”

Len shook his head. “No,” he said, then internally grimaced at what he was about to confess. “I saw the guy dropping them off and took them home with me so they wouldn’t be cold. I couldn’t get them any food, though, so they’re probably really hungry,” he said quickly. “They don’t seem old enough to eat solid food.”

Barry nodded, petting the puppy’s floppy little ears. “Probably not,” he mumbled in agreement, snuggling it close. “What kind of asshole does that?”

Len smirked, thinking about the guy he’d left lying on the street. “One that’s probably in the hospital this morning,” he said, and Barry gave him a surprised look. Len shrugged. “I like dogs and I hate people. What could you expect?” He held out the other puppy and Barry took it as well, hugging it to his chest as well. “You think these two will be okay?” he asked, and Barry looked down at them, smiling.

“Yeah, we’ll get them some food, check them out, but I’m pretty sure two cute little guys like this? They’ll get adopted in no time.” 

Len nodded and then saluted Barry as he stepped back from the desk. “Be seeing you, Red. And don’t tell anybody about this,” he added, and Barry just smirked.

“What, that you’re secretly a dog lover?”

Len just rolled his eyes and walked out, the bell on the door jingling in his wake.

 

4.

Len admired other thieves who were good at their job. Pick pocketing especially impressed him. Nothing was quite as nice as watching someone with sticky fingers snag something without the mark ever noticing. Sure, it was nothing compared to a good, solid, well-planned heist, but it was still an admirable art form.

Mugging, however, was not.

It lacked any type of honest work to mug someone. Threatening someone’s life in exchange for their wallet was crass and vulgar and everything a good thief shouldn’t be, in Len’s opinion. It was something absolutely pathetic and desperate, in every case, but especially in this case. Len watched from the shadows as an elderly couple huddled, terrified, against the side of their car while some little punk ass tweaker threatened them with a knife.

“I- I don’t have any more,” the man said, arm over his wife as he tried to edge her behind him. “I swear, that’s all we’ve got!”

The twitchy little guy looked around, pointing with the knife. “What about the jewels, Old Man,” he said, pointing at the old lady’s necklace. The lady quickly took off her necklace and handed it over, whimpering fearfully. The kid pointed at her hands. “The rings too, bitch.”

“But-but that’s my wedding rings!” she said. “I- I’ve had them for- for fifty-three years-“

Len watched the kid point the knife at her over her husband’s shoulder, and decided he’d had enough of this shit. He stepped out of the shadows, flicking on the switch to power up the cold gun. He could tell they all heard the sound of it firing up. “Hey, why don’t you leave ‘em alone,” he drawled, slowly stalking up to them. 

The kid looked his way, eyes cocked. “Ey, this is my job, bro, fuck off.”

Len leveled his cold gun at the kid with the knife. “Or, you can leave them alone, and you fuck off.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, man,” he said, backing up. “I’m just doin’ a job, man, you know how it is-“

“No. Now go,” he hissed and the kid practically spun-tires in his speed to get away. 

Before he could get too far, however, a flash of lightning – or so it seemed – snagged him, and Len watched, eyebrow raised, as Barry skidded to a stop with the mugger in his grasp. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He looked at Len and his eyes widened. “Cold?” he asked incredulously, looking at the old couple. “Uh, not really your speed, is it?”

“Decidedly not,” he replied.

The old couple, however, piped up. “Oh no, this one helped us!” the man said, looking at Len. “He scared that one off!”

Flash looked over at Len, and he just rolled his eyes. “What can I say? Punks like that have no business terrorizing the elderly in my streets,” he said simply. He turned around and stalked away, flinging the cold gun up onto his shoulder. “Make sure you get her necklace back from him, Flash,” he called as he disappeared into the shadows once more.

~

Len was getting used to Barry Allen stalking him, but it was still annoying to be at his favorite Chinese place and have the kid sit down across from him with a knowing smirk. "You saved that old lady's wedding ring set."

"Well hello to you, too, Barry," he drawled, and Barry just grinned.

"You're a _romantic_ ," he accused with a small laugh. "Captain Cold, savior of sweet old couples!"

Len just rolled his eyes. "You're paying for my food," he said simply as he grabbed his last wonton, shoved it in his mouth, and walked out, ignoring the smug look on Barry's face as he went.

 

5.

It wasn’t a habit or anything, but, on occasion, Len felt like _giving_ instead of taking. He particularly enjoyed stealing from people who pissed him off and giving what he had just taken. His past with the Santini Family was long and checkered and he felt that, after breaking into Priority West Bank – the one most frequented by members of the Santini Family – and making off with all of the items of value in the safety deposit boxes in the bank vault, it was time to do a little giving.

It took two weeks to liquidate the loot, and by then, it was just time for the annual Central City Zoo’s masque gala. Len loved animals and Lisa loved the zoo since it was one of the last places their grandfather had taken them before their father got back out of prison and returned to ruining their lives, so he set up a hefty donation under a pair of assumed names – they didn’t check too hard to prove the identity of a man donating a quarter of a million dollars to their charity – and prepared to spend the night living high off of the Santini’s money with his sister.

Lisa looked absolutely beautiful in a blue, high-necked, sleeved gown that had absolutely no back at all, as well as the diamond earrings he had stolen from one of their last jewelry heists and saved to give her for her birthday. “Well, don’t you clean up well, Lenny,” she said, and he did a little spin for her in his navy blue tuxedo, so that they matched without being the exact shade of blue. 

“And you’re beautiful as always,” he said, smiling as he plucked a black and glittery metal lace mask from behind his back to hand to her. “Finishing touch,” he said, and she cooed as she held it up, going over to the mirror to put it on.

“Are these _more_ diamonds?” she asked, pointing to the stones around the corners of the eyes.

He stepped up behind her, tying the mask on for her. “Only the best for my baby sister.”

He stepped aside and put on his own mask – a frosty white mask with silver accents – and then turned to Lisa, who offered her hand to him. “Oh how many of the people we steal from will ogle our asses tonight,” she said and he laughed, thinking about just that.

~

Nothing was more thrilling than a good heist pulled off perfectly, but waltzing on a dancefloor full of people he had stolen from with his sister _wearing_ some of the things he had stolen from them was absolutely a close second. 

Their assumed names for the evening were Lyle and Clarissa Hoffman, and they had been introduced to and had succeeded in charming the pants off of half of Central City’s richest and most thieved from. An even bigger thrill than that was meeting Captain Singh from Central City Police Department (and his admittedly really hot husband) and having an entire conversation with him about the very bank robbery he had pulled off in order to get them there.

“It’s just such a shame these criminals keep getting away with things,” he intoned, shaking his head along with his sister. “I was just telling Clarissa the other day how that terrible Cold fellow was going to eventually steal from everyone we know, wasn’t I, Clarissa?” he asked, and she nodded very seriously.

“Lyle and I are adamant about banking out of the city. Our parents left us everything we have, and it just wouldn’t be right for their memory to allow all their hard earned money to be taken by a common thief,” she replied, eyes flickering to Captain Singh’s.

He nodded. “Too right you are, Ms. Hoffman.”

“Too bad Cold keeps getting away, huh, Sir?" Len stiffened slightly and turned to see none other than Barry Allen at his right. "Hopefully sooner or later, he'll slip up and do something stupid," he said, looking at Len.

Singh looked at Barry, raising an eyebrow at his lack of a masquerade mask. "You do understand the concept of 'masque' right, Allen? Or do you store that information with the part that can't read a clock?" He asked, and Barry smiled that boyish smile at his boss.

"I'm not one for masks. Too restricting," he dismissed.

Singh rolled his eyes impressively. "Ms. Hoffman here was just talking about that bank case your father was working on."

Barry blushed some. "And I'm sure it's a fascinating topic, but I actually came over to talk to Lyle," he said, giving him a pointed look. "I believe he promised me the next dance," he said pointedly.

"Oh? I didn't know you knew the Hoffmans," Singh's husband said, and Barry just smiled, holding Len's gaze.

"We run into each other a lot." He nodded to the dancefloor. "So, Lyle?"

Len had to give the kid credit for an absolute abundance of gumption. "Sure thing, Barry, you lead the way," he said, offering his arm to Barry. Lisa gave him a confused look, and Len was reminded that she didn't know who The Flash was, still.

Barry led them out onto the dance floor, and Len was surprised when Barry let him lead as they began to dance. "I would say I'm surprised to see you here, but that's not really true," Barry said as he curled his hand around Len's shoulder with a grin. "The goods stolen from the Santinis got traced, and the money paid for them somehow exactly equaled a really big donation made to the zoo."

Len hummed, sliding his hand to Barry's waist. "Well what a coincidence, that," he said, smiling knowingly. "I always took you for a bottom," he purred as he tightened the hand on Barry's waist teasingly. "The natural desire to follow instead of lead reinforces that thought."

Barry flushed and rolled his eyes. "You can try to distract all you want, but I know your secret." He leaned closer. "You robbed a bank just to get back at a crime family and then donated all the money to help the zoo just so you could come tonight."

"I like animals, you know this," Len said simply.

Barry glanced over at Lisa and grinned. "You like animals, you enjoy helping them, and also, you wanted to spoil your sister for a night." He looked into Len's eyes. "You're a good man deep down, Len. I've always said it."

"But apparently terrible at disguise," he said, looking at the edges of his mask that were visible. "You spotted me very easily."

Barry grinned down at him. "There's no missing those eyes," he said simply.

"Aww, Scarlet, you're gonna make a man blush," he teased, but Barry was the one to blush as Len leaned in, putting his lips right beside his ear. "Don't sweat it, Kid, your ass is pretty hard to miss, too," he whispered as his hand strayed from Barry's waist to his ass momentarily before he pulled away with a smirk. "Have a good evening, Red," he said in parting, disappearing into the crowd to go collect his sister and fade into the dance floor.

 

+1.

Len had a carefully crafted persona for a reason. In a city full of metahumans, he was a regular criminal and if he didn’t instill the fear of his wrath in them, and if he didn’t keep his crew of Rogues fearful of him, he wouldn’t have anybody to back him if the rest of the metas turned on him or decided to take him out. Normally, he would do everything in his power to protect his Captain Cold the man without a fear, pity, or compassion.

Unfortunately for him, ‘normally’ didn’t include a powered maniac flinging _lightning bolts_ and _fireballs_ in the square outside the museum Len was casing this week, which was also, incidentally, the location of a second grade class’s field trip. 

There were eighteen children, all around eight years old, huddled behind a fountain not thirty feet away from him, right on the edge of where the meta was fighting The Flash. He looked around and spotted two women and a museum employee all trapped behind a mailbox and a built-up landscaping area, shouting out to the children.

“No, no, no, stay down,” Len muttered under his breath, watching as the teacher gestured for the little girl nearest to them to run across the gap to her. Len could see more than the teacher could, and he knew that those kids would never make it without being clear targets for lightning bolts and fireballs, even if they were just stray blasts. He knew Barry couldn’t see them when he was fighting the meta and even if he could, there was nothing he could do better than to distract the meta from the easy targets.

Len, for once in his life, looked around hopefully for a cop, but the CCPD were all setting off a perimeter far back from the battle. Len didn’t have his Cold Gun, so he couldn’t even hope to dive into the fray and distract the meta while Flash saved the kids either. He looked around, looking for anything, and his eyes were drawn back to movement as the museum employee tried to make a run for it, away from the fight towards the police line, only to be struck by lightning right there. 

He was dead before he even hit the ground. 

Len heard the kids all scream and cry and he clenched his teeth as he saw their terrified little faces. He looked around and saw there was a door back into the museum behind where the teachers were huddled, and though it wasn’t a clear route to safety, it would at least give them a chance.

He looked back and took off running, keeping low before he slid to a stop behind the teachers. They both screamed, and he knew that they recognized his face, but he just tugged them back down. “Look, there’s a clear path to that door,” he said, pointing to the museum. “Get inside, try to find a back entrance or a basement or something.”

One woman tearfully shook her head. “The children-“

“I’ll handle that,” he said, nodding to the door. “One of you go there, one of you wait here.” He looked across the gap at the kids and stood up a little to see the fight. “I’m going to get them to you, and you direct them to the other one at the door,” he said, and they both nodded. “Go!” he urged, and the dark haired woman took off running to the museum doorway. The route between the museum door and their current hiding place was pretty safe, relative to everywhere else near the square, so he was sure that if he could get the kids to the first woman, she could get them all inside to the second. “What’s your names?” he asked quickly.

“Ms. Charlotte, she’s Ms. Teresa,” she said, instantly knowing that he wanted their names for the kids.

He nodded. “Thanks, Charlotte. Just be ready,” he said, and then, shedding his jacket so he could run unhindered, he waited for the right moment in the fight and took off at a sprint, sliding on the damp concrete around the broken fountain.

The kids all cried out in fear for a moment, before he shushed them. “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he comforted, counting them again to be sure that, yes, there were eighteen of them. “Okay, do you see Ms. Charlotte?” he asked, pointing to the other lady. “Well, Ms. Charlotte is gonna get you from where she’s at to Ms. Teresa right inside, do you see over there?” he asked, pointing to the building. 

“But how do we get there?” one little boy asked, and Len took a breath, closing his eyes for a silent prayer. He didn’t believe in a higher power, but just in case there was one, he really needed the help he could get.

“I’m gonna get you there,” he promised. “Just stay down, all of you,” he instructed. “I’m gonna take you, two at a time, okay?” he asked, and they all nodded, little heads bobbing in unison. “Okay, you,” he said, turning to the little boy right beside him and the girl beside him. “I’m going to hold your hands and run _really_ fast. I need you to hold on, okay?”

“Okay,” the little boy said, holding up his hand trustingly. 

Len remembered what it was like to be a little kid who naturally trusted grown-ups. He hoped none of these kids ever lost that innocence the painful way he did. “Okay, one, two, three!” he cried, and then he dragged both kids – because it was more dragging than running with them – across the gap, and he shoved them ahead of him and tackled them and the teacher to the ground as a fireball flew over them as he shielded them. The kids were both crying and a little scraped up from being tackled, but they were alive and unharmed as they ran to Ms. Teresa inside the building, which was what mattered.

Len repeated that run several times, several _grueling_ times, doing his best to protect the children and time it correctly. The worst time had been when one of the kids slipped and fell on the way and Len had to push the other ahead and snatch that child up just as a fireball singed him just a little. He wasn’t too hurt to run, but his legs were a little burned. As the wailing child was carried by Ms. Charlotte to the building, unwilling to run, Len grew angrier and angrier.

He knew that, by now, both The Flash and the meta he was fighting had seen what he was doing, because the last three trips were not stray fireballs, they were blasts targeting him and the kids he was ferrying across the gap. Len was a lot of things, but he was still a human being, and the thought of someone purposefully targeting children pissed him off.

The police had also seen him, he was positive, because he could see the police line in the opposite direction from where he was taking the children, and every time he started to run, several cops would start shouting and yelling to try and help distract the meta from his attacks.

The last three children were the ones that were too scared to run. He understood, he really did. He remembered being eight years old and scared to the point he couldn’t move when his father came home drunk, and this was something far scarier than a man and his fists. “Okay, okay, look,” he said, trying to reason with them. “Look, I _need_ you to run,” he urged. One of the children wasn’t scared stiff, but she was holding onto a girl who looked identical to her, so he knew for a fact she wasn’t going to run without her sister. “What’s your name, Sweetie?” he asked her, since she might actually talk to him.

“Mary,” she whispered. “This is Lisa,” she said, and Len laughed a bit deliriously.

“Well Mary, my name is Len,” he said. “My sister’s name is Lisa, too,” he confided. “I know you love your sister more than anything in the world, right?” he asked, and she nodded quickly. “Me, too, Mary, me, too.” He touched her hand. “But I have to get you all across this gap, and that’s getting harder and harder every time we run. I need you to get Lisa to stand up, and I need Lisa to run, okay? I can’t carry but one of you, and I need to carry this boy, okay?” he said, nodding to the little boy who was curled up in a ball, staring blankly ahead, clearly in a state of shock. “I need you to convince her to walk, okay? Can you do that?”

Mary nodded, shaking her sister some. “We gotta run, okay? Please, Lis, run with me,” she begged. “I can’t go until you go, okay?” However, the girl didn’t respond at all, she just continued shaking in fear.

Len bit back a curse and closed his eyes for a second. “Okay, okay, I’m gonna take him, then I’ll be back. I’m gonna come back for her and you have to run with us, okay?”

“Yes, please, just hurry!” Mary said, and Len nodded, picking up the little boy before making a run for it. Len was getting far too tired for his liking. The adrenaline only did so much when he had ran back and forth dragging and carrying children the whole time for the past fifteen minutes. He wasn’t as young as he used to be and he was running out of steam fast. He was glad this was about to be the last trip for these kids and so far, they were all alive and mostly unharmed. 

The last trip, he looked at Mary and held Lisa in his arms and nodded to her. “One, two, THREE!” he cried, and they both took off running, eyes on Ms. Charlotte where she waited for them. 

They got halfway there when Lisa, who was holding onto his neck, screamed in his ear. “MARY!” she cried, and he looked back to see Mary had tripped and fallen. He also saw the meta turn their way and his heart stopped when he saw the meta see Mary on the ground. He turned back and practically tossed Lisa at Ms. Charlotte and turned back, sprinting towards Mary. 

The meta conjured up a fireball and threw it towards her while Len was still running.

“MARY GET DOWN!” he shouted frantically, and then he dove on top of her, curling his arms and body around her just in time to shield her form the fireball with his own body. Len screamed out in pain as a searing heat scorched his entire back, and then the last thing he knew was the sound of Mary’s scream muffled by his shirt before everything went black. 

~

Len was annoyed by the sound that trickled into his dreams and woke him up.

“In other news, after the footage of the daring rescue of eighteen second graders during the battle between the Flash and an unidentified metahuman outside Central City Museum was analyzed, it was confirmed that the initial reports were correct and it was, in fact, Leonard Snart – also known as the notorious criminal Captain Cold – who saved all eighteen children. No one is quite sure how or _why_ a well-known criminal would risk capture to linger around a police barricade to rescue children, but the number of warrants outstanding aren’t what one usually associates with someone who would do such a thing. Police are still looking for Snart’s whereabouts after he was whisked away from the scene by The Flash – no doubt due to the injuries Snart sustained rescuing the last child – and he has not been seen since.”

“Several eyewitnesses had something to say about the police search for Captain Cold. We’re here with Teresa Tanner and Charlotte Hammond, the teachers of the eighteen students saved by Cold’s efforts.”

Len frowned some as he tried to open his eyes upon processing what he had heard, but they felt so heavy. “I don’t care what he’s done before,” a somewhat familiar voice said. “That man- that man saved us all, all twenty of us.”

“That’s right,” another person said. “So what he robbed a bank or two, that man is a hero!”

Len finally managed to pry his eyes open, and saw that the voices were coming from the TV in the corner of the room he was in. He attempted to turn his head only to groan at the stiffness in his neck. “Easy there, Lenny.” Len glanced to his right and was surprised to see Lisa sitting beside him.

“Lis?” he mumbled, and she reached out, sliding her hand into his. “Lis- where-“

“Is he awake?” Len was very confused when he saw a familiar redhead, only for his brain to clear a little more and realize that was Caitlin Snow, the woman he’d kidnapped from STAR labs a while back. “Oh good! I worried the experimental surgery had did something bad,” she babbled.

“Where am I?” he asked, looking around in confusion.

Caitlin leaned over him. “Hi, Cold, you’re in STAR labs. B-“ She caught herself and glanced at Lisa. “Flash brought you here because you had some pretty serious burns, but I had developed this nano-tech to rapidly heal burns, but it’s experimental, and I was worried somehow the nanites had gotten into your bloodstream and you were dying on me!” she said quickly. “Haha, funny story, right?”

“Oh. Great.” He frowned as he looked around. “I’m lying on my back. I was burned on my back.”

Caitlin nodded. “Yep, you’re fully healed. It’s been a whole day and a half, and with my technology, that’s more than enough.”

“Oh hey, I see there’s no coma patient this time.” Len turned his head and spotted Cisco. “Sup, Cold,” he said, nodding. He narrowed his eyes some as he looked at Len’s sister. “Lisa,” he said flatly.

She grinned, fluttering her eyelashes. “Hi there, Cisco.”

Not far behind Cisco was Barry – sans Flash costume – walking in with a coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. “Hey, everybody. Len’s awake?” he asked, smiling when he spotted Len. He didn’t say anything, just walked over and tossed the newspaper onto Len’s chest. “Ha.” Len picked up the newspaper and opened it shakily, only to have his eyes widen when he saw the headline blazoned across the page. 

**CAPTAIN COLD: CENTRAL CITY’S NEWEST HERO**

Len sighed heavily. “Goddammit.”

Barry gave him an insufferably smug grin. “Your secret’s out now, Len,” he said, winking. “Now I’m not the only one that knows there’s good inside of you.”

Len gave him a warning glare. “Yeah, well, I could always get _your_ secret out, Barry,” he threatened. “Remind everybody I’m a criminal, not some- some _hero_ ,” he complained.

Cisco snickered. “Dude, you nearly died saving school children. You could probably hit the mayor with your car and people would go, ‘but he saved those kids!’ and stuff.”

Len turned to Lisa with a grumpy pout. “When I’m out of here, we’re going on a crime spree. Call Mick and tell him to fuel up his gun.”

Lisa just giggled. “Okay, but you’re still a hero this time,” she reminded him, reaching out to pat his arm. “Don’t worry, Lenny. You’ve always been my hero,” she said and he couldn’t help but smile, because he knew that was true.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He turned to Barry and shrugged. “So what, I couldn’t let the little bastards fry. Since when does basic humanity make you a hero?” he challenged.

Barry smirked, sipping his coffee. “What about saving a teenager from a gay-bashing? Or saving puppies who were abandoned? Or stopping a girl from getting roofied by her date? Or saving old people from being mugged? Or donating money to the zoo and being a good brother?”

Len narrowed his eyes. “I hate homophobes, I like dogs, rape is a disgusting act, mugging is sloppy and stupid, zoos are nice, and I love my sister, none of those things are anything but selfish.” He smirked suddenly. “Also, I groped you at that charity ball, that’s not very heroic now, is it?” he asked with a grin.

Cisco snorted. “Trust me, as long as it’s been since Barry got laid, even a little over the clothes action is totally a heroic deed,” he said and Barry flushed, head jerking around to glare at him.

“Cisco!”

“What? It’s true! You still can’t control the whole ‘vibration’ thing-“

“CISCO!” Barry squeaked.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Well doesn’t that sound intriguing!” She leaned forward, elbows on Len’s bed. “Tell me more about _that_ problem-“

“I hate you, Cisco-“

“Oh like your- uh- _meetings_ with Cold haven’t all been flirting anyways-“

“ _Oh my God, shut up_!”

Len smirked at how red Barry was and Lisa just turned to Len, wiggling her eyebrows. “Corrupting a cop, I’m impressed,” she said, pulling Len’s hand up in the air for a high-five. “I approve.”

Len grinned as he spoke up, loud enough to interrupt Barry and Cisco’s not-so-whispered argument. “While I’d love to help out with that problem, Red, I believe I’ll have to take a rain-check on the sex until I’m out of this hospital bed,” he said and Barry jerked around, somehow turning _even redder_ when he met Len’s eyes. Len just winked. “And I don’t usually put out on the first date, so you better impress me when you ask me out.”

Barry spluttered, made faces, and then finally just growled. “Fine!” he said, throwing his hands up, almost splashing Cisco with coffee. “When you’re out of here, we’re going to dinner, and- and you’re picking me up because I don’t have a car,” he declared in frustration, then turned and stalked away, ears and the back of his neck visibly red still.

“Huh,” Len said, chuckling to himself. “I didn’t think that would actually work. I expected him to put up more of a fight than that.”

Lisa shrugged. “Probably the ‘never gets laid’ thing. I sure hope you plan to tell me what he means by ‘vibration problem’,” she informed Len, who just snickered.

“Sure thing, Sis, you’ll be the first to know.”


End file.
